In yesterday's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples, "Offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow." I could see that Jesus himself certainly practiced what he preached. But how about us? I have great difficulty with the first saying about offering no resistance to one who is evil. What if someone wants to kill me and my entire family? I even have trouble giving money to anyone who asks of me, when I know that it's a scam. Should we not even fight evil? I believe that the Lord basically wants us to always love others, including our enemies. What he requires us to do is most difficult, all the more we need to abandon ourselves to him. I believe the consolation here is that if we love God, he will never put us to any test we cannot pass.
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